11 crashes, 318 deaths: Why 2024 was one of the deadliest in recent years

As many as 318 people lost their lives in 11 civilian airplane accidents in the outgoing year, by far the worst year since more than 500 aviation-related deaths were recorded in 2018.

The last week of 2024 was particularly bad for air travel as two of the year’s three deadliest aircraft accidents happened in a space of a few days.

The high number of fatalities in 2024 is in sharp contrast to 2023, which was called the “safest year ever in aviation” because no large passenger planes encountered any accidents.

Even though investigations into many aircraft crashes remain inconclusive, news reports suggest global conflicts may have played an outsized role in making 2024 a particularly bad year in terms of aviation fatalities.

While the spike in the number of plane crash-related deaths was unmistakable in 2024, aviation experts warn against drawing incorrect statistical conclusions.

Deadly passenger aircraft crashes are still rare, which means one major incident can turn a statistically safe year into one of the worst.

“It’s best to look at aviation safety over decade-long periods,” said Jan-Arwed Richter, an aviation safety consultant who runs the Jacdec research site in Hamburg, Germany. “I’m pretty confident that 2024 may be regarded as an outlier in years to come.”

According to the International Air Transport Association, there was one accident for every 1.26 million flights in 2023, the lowest rate in over a decade. In other words, a person would have to travel by air every day for 103,239 years to experience a single fatal accident.

Here’s the list of the deadliest airplane accidents in 2024.

South Korea

On December 29, a passenger plane of South Korean carrier Jeju Air carrying 181 people from Bangkok to South Korea crashed on arrival after colliding with a barrier and bursting into flames.

The accident, the worst in terms of the number of fatalities in 2024, killed 179 people. There were only two survivors.

Videos showed the Jeju Air craft landing on its belly at Muan International Airport in southern South Korea, skidding off the runway as smoke streamed out from the engines, before crashing into a wall and exploding in flames.

Authorities said a collision with birds and adverse weather conditions were the likely causes of the crash.

Azerbaijan

A plane of Azerbaijan Airlines crashed on December 25 in Kazakhstan, killing 38 of the 67 people on board.

It was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku to Grozny, the regional capital of Chechnya, when it turned towards Kazakhstan and crashed while making an attempt to land. The number of survivors was 29.

Azerbaijan blamed Russia for downing its passenger plane, demanding that Moscow punish those responsible and pay compensation.

President Ilham Aliyev said the plane was “heavily damaged by ground fire” by Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin apologised to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a "tragic incident".

The Kremlin said its air defence systems were firing near Grozny owing to a Ukrainian drone strike but stopped short of acknowledging whether it actually hit the plane.

Brazil

An airplane of Brazilian airline Voepass carrying 62 people crashed near Sao Paulo in Brazil on August 9, killing everyone on board.

Social media videos showed what appeared to be the ATR-made plane spinning out of control as it plunged behind a cluster of trees near houses, followed by a large plume of black smoke.

A preliminary report into the crash found signs of “ice buildup” on the plane. Cockpit recordings showed the copilot saying there was “a lot of icing” during the flight.

That comment indicated that the plane’s de-icing system might have failed, but the country’s Center for Research and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents noted that information “still needed to be confirmed”.

Nepal

Eighteen people lost their lives when a passenger plane of the Nepalese Saurya Airlines crashed during takeoff in Kathmandu on July 24.

The flight was carrying two crew and 17 of the company's staff members for a test flight. The pilot was the only survivor.

Images released by Nepal's military showed the plane's fuselage split apart and burnt to a husk.

A preliminary probe showed the pilot used the wrong takeoff weight information. It held the pilot’s error – along with the negligence of the operator and civil aviation regulator – responsible for the crash.

Other accidents

Other major passenger airplane accidents in 2024 included the crash of a Northwestern Air in Canada that killed six people on January 23, and an Aerotaxi Abaete plane accident in Brazil on October 23, which killed all five people on board.

Separately, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi – along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and six other officials – died in a helicopter crash on May 19.

Iran’s final inquiry into the helicopter crash found it was caused by “bad weather”.